The Influence of Workplace Ostracism and Organizational Cynicism on Organizational Silence among Nursing Staff

Abstract

Background: Workplace ostracism limits opportunities for social interaction and discourages nursing staff from forming lasting and meaningful relationships in an organization and organizational cynicism and organizational silence are barriers against the improvement of organizations. Aim: The study aimed to investigate the effect of workplace ostracism and organizational cynicism on organizational silence among nursing staff. Subjects and Method: Design: Descriptive correlation research design was utilized. Setting: The study was conducted at medical and surgical departments at Benha University Hospital. Subjects: a sample of nursing staff 362 (46 head nurses and 316 nurses). Tools: Three tools were used for data collection of this research as follows; workplace ostracism scale, organizational cynicism scale and organizational silence scale. Results: Ninety percent (92.5%) of nursing staff had a low level of workplace ostracism, more than two third (68.8%) of nursing staff had a low level of total organizational cynicism, and less than half (45.9%) of nursing staff had a high level of total issues for remaining organizational silence. Conclusion: A significant positive correlation between total workplace ostracism dimensions, total organizational cynicism dimensions and dimensions of organizational silence. Recommendations: it is recommended to conduct continuous periodic training programs for nursing staff in different health care units to increase their awareness about organizational cynicism, development of a cooperative system considers nursing staff thought and ideas, which leads to a sense of loyalty, cooperation, and commitment toward the hospital, and improve and develop methods and mechanisms for communication with nurses to avoid the silent behavior of the nursing staff.

Efficiency of Acceptance and Commitment Based Nursing Intervention on Work place Ostracism, Organizational Silence and Psychological Distress among Nurses

“…A study conducted among healthcare professionals in Egypt assessed the mental health consequences and reported anxiety (42.6%), depression (59.0%), and insomnia (51.9%) (12). According to a study done by Elhanafy (13) founded that the prevalence of workplace ostracism was 52.26%, while 45.9 % of the nursing staff had high level of organizational silence. Also, found that more than half of staff nurses (53%) had a high level of organizational silence (7).…”

“…In contrast to the current findings, the results of Elhanafy and Ebrahim ., (2022) (13) revealed that More than ninety percent (92.5%) of nursing staff have a low level of workplace ostracism.…”

“…Consequently, nurses tend to withdraw from social interactions and adopt a defensive silence as a means to avoid rejection in their professional environment. Similar findings were reported by Panagiotou et al, (2016) (45) ,Wu et al, (2012) (46) , and Elhanafy and Ebrahim., (2022) (13) .…”

Workplace ostracism in healthcare: Association with job satisfaction, stress, and perceived health

“…The healthcare industry is strongly people‐oriented, and healthcare work is often done in teams. Hospitals are social environments and offer a good opportunity to interact and communicate with colleagues and patients (Elhanafy & Ebrahim, 2022). However, workplace ostracism undermines this interaction (Robinson et al., 2013).…”